A Visual Tour of Bucharest, Romania

Photography is one of my true passions, as well as travel and architecture. Luckily, they can all work together and give me one overwhelming sense of joy.

In October 2017 we visited Bucharest, Romania. Not overly familiar with what we could do there, we admittedly spent most of our time in Transylvania and used Bucharest for a 2-day stopover before using the airport to get us to Budapest. Yes, those names get confusing.

So here are some of the places we visited on our own walking tour and then an actual free walking tour. A lot of walking for one day!
If you are like me, seeing pictures of places are the driving reason for me wanting to go there to experience and shoot it myself.

Colțea Hospital

Romanian Athenaeum

A new building on top of an old. A strange mix, but it kind of works. The Architects Union Accommodation building

Along Strada Doamnei

Stavropoleos Monastery Church

Stavropoleos Monastery Church

Palace of Parliament

This place is definitely one to see in person, as the sheer size of it does not translate to photos. There are many interesting facts about the Palace of Parliament. For instance, it is the second largest administrative building in the world, after the Pentagon. And weighing in at 4,098,500,000 kilograms, it is the heaviest building in the world. It is also valued in monetary value as the most expensive administrative building in the world. Of course, the electricity and heating bills for its 2,550,000 cubic metres would be high too, about 5 million Euros per year. Slightly insane.

Yes, you can have a tour of the inside if you like. We did not as our priorities were elsewhere.

Palace of Parliament

Looking down Strada Smârdan

Piața Universității. University’s Square.

Bucharest has an interesting history, one that is well worth learning more about. We stayed with a local through Airbnb who told us of his experience with all the issues Romania has had in recent history.

Romania as a country has plenty to offer any traveller. Although it has joined the EU, its prices nowhere near reflect this. See how we visited a bear sanctuary in Transylvania full of amazing rescued bears from another of Romania’s past practices.